Need to tighten our metaphorical belt for a few months....ideas?

[Halcyon]

Dh's business is going through one of its periodic downswings, and we need to really not spend a lot of money. My first thought, which DH hates, is to leave the cc at home and just use cash.. It is inconvenient (gas, groceries) but i think t will help us be more careful. Second thing, write down everything we spend money on as a way of monitoring and self-checking.

 

I am going to sub to an online meal plan so as to be more careful with or grocery budget. I am putting off some purxhases which come close to being needs but are really not. (new pool vac as ours is broken, new beds for the boys as their's are just mattreses and very uncomfortable, starting a small veggie garden)

 

How to do tighten your belt?

[K&Rs Mom]

We're using a "virtual envelope" system called eeba (stands for electronic envelope something...). It's a website & phone app, so I can enter the cost of gas while I'm still at the station. It's been good to see when/how we need to transfer, and find out what we've overlooked, or where we consistently have extra and can cut back. So we can still use credit cards for convenience, but track it as if it's cash in envelopes.

[Katy]

We also use EEBA. I don't like carrying around cash instead of a debit card; it makes you more likely to be a victim of crime and there is no protection if you lose cash the way there is with a debit card. I don't even use it as a debit, I run it as credit every time so if someone hacks a store's system they don't have my PIN.

 

DH wanted to switch to cash and I flat-out refused. We compromised with the EEBA and it's worked very well.

[*Lulu*]

Ways I save, (for when DH gets that twitchy look after I've ordered curriculum):

 

Shopping with a list (and only buying what is on it)

Staying away from the k-8 board :tongue_smilie:

Eating from the pantry as much as possible

Drying more laundry with the drying rack

Never leaving the house without water bottles and snacks for the kids

Staying out of stores like Target and off sites like Amazon

Keeping stuff on hand for a couple quick meals so we eat in even on crazy days

[Just Kate]

Start each month with a zero balance budget (spend every penny on paper). This is what really helps me stay on track! Also, going to cash helps a lot as well.

 

I am also trying to tighten the belt and while I don't do these things consistently, when I actually DO them, I always save money.

[Lily_Grace]

Dh and I plan meals by piggybacking ingredients. For example:

 

Night 1: tacos, refried beans, and chips.

Night 2: salad (from the taco leftovers), chicken, and rice.

Night 3: chili (with leftover taco meat, onions, tomatoes, rice)

Night 4: quesedillas (with leftover chicken/cheese, sour cream, salsa from tacos) and refried beans + corn (bought for chili night)

Night 5: leftovers and breakfast night

 

We cut our grocery list in half this way and then switch to a different cuisine the next week. We also end up with a lot less leftovers moldering away in the back of the fridge.

 

 

Using cash and ignoring the online bank statements save us a TON. It sounds counterproductive, but when we're in belt-tightening mode dh and I will write down his paycheck on the fridge and deduct from there. Since we end up rounding numbers to the nearest 5 we are mentally saving ourselves. If we look online we find the actual number and use that to spend - which means every dime available.

[Rosie_0801]

You already hang your washing to dry, don't you? And, as it happens, if you aren't buying meat and dairy to store, you can turn the fridge off. :p Make sure you turn appliances off at the wall when you are not using them. Leaving a computer idling still uses electricity! We're on solar at the moment, and the weather is still wintery. I have to be careful with my electricity use if I don't want to be sitting in the dark for three hours while I wait to fall asleep, lol.

 

Rosie

Edited August 25, 2012 by Rosie_0801

[Halcyon]

Thanks for all the great tips! Still thinking here....

[Chris in VA]

We buy generic unless there's a great coupon/deal at the grocery store. We have old cars (paid off), never having bought a new one or one less than 5 or 6 years old. Dh does most of the car maintenance. If he doesn't know how to fix something, he gets a book and learns--this summer, he fixed our airconditioning in our other house (the Rectory gets fixed by the church, so we don't pay for that). We refinanced at a low rate. We have a line of credit for tuition and medical bills that is very, very low interest (4%, I think). We don't have "cable," just antenna-based, "regular" free TV and Netflix. I have limited texting on my phone and try really hard not to go over. I groom my own pooch (except once in a great while--it costs $80 to get our Golden washed, brushed, clipped and fluffed, but he's like a walking air freshener and SO soft when we do...so it's tempting to get it done more often than twice a year...).

 

I don't carry cash or I spend it too easily--I'm the spender in the family, and we separated our accounts. I only spend what I earn, unless it's by prior arrangement.

 

I'm trying to pay off most of a 6K debt this year by dog walking. It's hard, b/c I want to spend my $ on extras, like going out for lunch when I'm working and buying extra groceries or clothes or dd or stuff like that. I'm tightening my own personal belt this year!

[cdrumm4448]

Dh and I plan meals by piggybacking ingredients. For example:

 

Night 1: tacos, refried beans, and chips.

Night 2: salad (from the taco leftovers), chicken, and rice.

Night 3: chili (with leftover taco meat, onions, tomatoes, rice)

Night 4: quesedillas (with leftover chicken/cheese, sour cream, salsa from tacos) and refried beans + corn (bought for chili night)

Night 5: leftovers and breakfast night

 

We cut our grocery list in half this way and then switch to a different cuisine the next week. We also end up with a lot less leftovers moldering away in the back of the fridge.

 

 

Using cash and ignoring the online bank statements save us a TON. It sounds counterproductive, but when we're in belt-tightening mode dh and I will write down his paycheck on the fridge and deduct from there. Since we end up rounding numbers to the nearest 5 we are mentally saving ourselves. If we look online we find the actual number and use that to spend - which means every dime available.

 

I have never thought of this! It is a totally genius idea and I'm going to implement it in two weeks when I shop again. Thank you!

[Annie G]

We're using a "virtual envelope" system called eeba (stands for electronic envelope something...). It's a website & phone app, so I can enter the cost of gas while I'm still at the station. It's been good to see when/how we need to transfer, and find out what we've overlooked, or where we consistently have extra and can cut back. So we can still use credit cards for convenience, but track it as if it's cash in envelopes.

 

I use this- love it!!! For me, it's a game to set a budget and then see if I can come in under. I came in under on gas and food this past month- sweet!!

[Halcyon]

Just downloaded this! Perfect for me. THank you! I need help setting my budget. I am responsible for buying almost everything, but am NOT in charge of mortgage, utilities or health insurance. I would like to keep my monthly under 1000 dollars to 1200 dollars. We are healthy clean eaters who dont eat processed foods, lots pf fruits and veggies, so i am allotting 500 month for food and paper products. Dogs eat high end and raw so 80 for them. GAs is about 60 a fillup, usually every 12 days if i Am careful. What else? It just disappears lol. We have a new house, so we have been investing in a fair amount of house stuff. That needs to stop.

[justasque]

i am allotting 500 month for food and paper products.

 

We use washcloths instead of paper towels, cloth napkins instead of paper, stainless cutlery in lunch boxes (brought home and washed), Gladware and re-used plastic tubs from purchased foods etc. instead of ziplocs/saran/foil, old towels to clean up larger messes, and to some extent cloth "mamma pads" for light days instead of liners. I've never done the math to see if washing is cheaper than disposable, but I sure do like walking past those paper aisles in the grocery store.

 

Most of our cloth has been in use for anywhere from five to over twenty years, so it's an investment for the long term. Some things were also made at home - washcloths from old towels, mamma pads from old towels and flannel shirts, etc., so the cost was even lower. I really like the convenience too - no need to run to the store when supplies are low. I also like that much of it is pretty. It makes me smile to use pretty things. Who ever smiled about a paper towel?!

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

Agreeing about using as much reusable stuff as possible and about the piggybacking of meals. IIRC, if you google "cook once eat twice," you'll get more ideas. Our old standard is the roast chicken, which feeds us one night and then gets automatically turned into chicken broth, which then gets turned into chicken soup (never hugely popular here but started getting rave reviews when I started adding mushrooms to the broth!). We do this at least once a week. More beans and lentils, if possible. Curries are super flavorful and add a big flavor impact to cheap brown rice. Oats are cheap and can go a long way (granola, granola bars, oatmeal pancakes, baked oatmeal, etc.). Eggs too. And I find soups a great way to save money, although it's not exactly soup season yet. I make soup, ladle out the bowls, and let them cool quite a bit before serving. Pair this with some homemade bread (focaccia is SO easy to make if you don't have a gluten issue) and a green salad or tomato salad and you have a cheap and filling meal.

 

FWIW, about subbing to the meal plan--every time I have tried this, I've found my grocery costs have gone up because the meals don't take into account my current pantry/freezer stock (and I tend to get so excited over fun new recipes that I go a little crazy). I do much better meal planning on my own with what I already have and the local sale flyers. We are fans of simple meals here--my family could eat roasted chicken legs three nights a week, every week, if I'd let them! I try to keep lots of simple meal ingredients on hand that I can combine in different ways.

 

We've been working on the same thing here, and I've struggled hard to reduce our energy costs too--unplugging things, remembering to turn the A/C off when we leave the house, turning off my over-sink light when it's broad daylight (we tend to leave it on all the time because the kitchen is dim). I'm trying to rethink anything I use too--how much TP I use at a time (too much), how much water something will use (can I take this pitcher of water I used to thaw hot dogs down to the garden?), etc. Yesterday DH rinsed a fork under rapidly running water for several seconds because it had tomato liquid on it. He was trying not to waste, but it would have been better for him to just stick in the dishwasher and get a clean one! Drive less. Combine errands if you can. Return stuff if you still can (found a bag of summer items I've been meaning to return and almost forgot about!). Ask for stuff on Freecycle if you can. Reduce portion sizes if you can (big saver here--I tend to go overboard when prepping and serving food :blushing:). Bring lunches and snacks and reusable water bottles everywhere you go.

 

Those are my best tips right now (that and going to a cash system, which it sounds like you're already working on). I'm trying to recoup the cost of my new Mac laptop, and I was able to save $140 out of the grocery and gas budgets last pay cycle. I'd like to keep doing that if I can!

 

Good luck, and I'm sorry about the financial crunch :grouphug:

 

ETA: I was going to suggest a garden, but I just saw you mentioned that. If you can get your hands on cheap containers, startup is minimal. We container gardened in blue rubbermaid bins that we already owned, so we just needed the soil. Greens need only 6 inches of depth and produce very quickly--two bins could probably keep you in salads for awhile.

Edited August 25, 2012 by Sweet Morning Air

[elegantlion]

We rarely eat out, but we get take out about twice a month. Instead of going to eat we save on tip and drinks, which even for us can be 10.00 easily.

 

Other ways to tighten:

 

Return items you bought for the new house but didn't use

Turn up the AC, those new home utilities can be shocking sometimes

Grocery shop alone and with a list

sell some books back to Amazon or here

track expenses

[Halcyon]

We rarely eat out, but we get take out about twice a month. Instead of going to eat we save on tip and drinks, which even for us can be 10.00 easily.

 

Other ways to tighten:

 

Return items you bought for the new house but didn't use

Turn up the AC, those new home utilities can be shocking sometimes

Grocery shop alone and with a list

sell some books back to Amazon or here

track expenses

 

 

Thanks. I am putting MCT Island and some Singapore up for sale soon ;) I just have to resist the call of Second Form Latin.